340 Mr, T. Prldgin Teale [Feb. 5, 



to the full concentrated force of the current to the chimney, convert- 

 ing the fire into a miniature blast-furnace. On this point Rumford 

 says : — " But there are, I am told, persons in this country who are so 

 fond of seeing what is called a great roaring fire, that even with its 

 attendant inconveniences, of roasting and freezing opposite sides of 

 the body at the same time, they prefer it to the genial and equable 

 warmth which a smaller fire, properly managed, may be made to pro- 

 duce, even in an open chimney fireplace." (III. 569.) 



The second result of faulty construction in fireplaces is " Undue 

 production of smoke and soot." Smoke and soot imply imperfect 

 combustion, and to this two defects in a fire mainly contribute, one, 

 too rapid a draught through the fire which hurries away and 

 chills below burning jioint the gas rising from the heated fuel. The 

 other defect is too cold a fire, i. e, too small a body of heat in and 

 around the fuel, so that the temperature of the gases is not raised to 

 a point at which they will burn. On the smoke question Eumford 

 waxes eloquent : — " The enormous waste of fuel in London may be 

 estimated by the vast dark cloud which continually hangs over this 

 great metropolis, and frequently overshadows the whole country, far 

 and wide ; for this dense cloud is certainly composed almost entirely 

 of unconsumed coal, which, having stolen wings from the innumerable 

 fires of this great city, has escaj)ed by the chimneys, and continues to 

 sail about in the air till, having lost the heat which gave it volatility, 

 it falls in a dry shower of extremely fine black dust to the ground, 

 obscuring the atmosphere in its descent, and frequently changing the 

 brightest day into more than Egyptian darkness." 



A few years ago the prevalence of unusually dense fogs roused 

 the metropolitan public to a sense of this great evil. The Smoke 

 Abatement Society was formed, and under its auspices exhibitions of 

 smoke-consuming apj^aratus and improved fireplaces were held in 

 London and Manchester. Beyond the fact that certain grates were 

 pronounced to be good in point of economy, and moderate in the 

 production of smoke, and that the public has been led to take an 

 interest in and enquire into the relative value and economy of 

 various patent fireplaces, there has been but little advance in the 

 education of the public in the principles which lie at the root of the 

 whole question. 



A third result of bad construction is the " Production of cinders." 

 With good coal, cinders are inexcusable. They are unconsumed 

 carbon — coke — and imply a faulty fireplace. If thrown into the 

 ashi)it, as is the case in 99 times out of 100, they are shameful 

 waste, and more than waste, for they entail a great cost for their 

 removal. The town of Leeds pays about 14,000Z. a year for the 

 scavenging of the streets and the emptying of ashpits. Nearly 

 every house in Leeds sujiplies in the way of cinders at least twice 

 as much ashj^it refuse as it might do, were the fireiilaces projierly 

 constructed. The ashpit refuse of Leeds is burned in a " Destructor," 

 and the cinders in the refuse provide, not only heat enough for its 



